Mississippi State TE Marcus Green granted medical redshirt

FILE - Mississippi State tight end Marcus Green granted sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA due to a medical redshirt Photo by: MSU athletics

Matt Stevens

July 6, 2012 9:11:58 AM

STARKVILLE - Marcus Green will be in a Mississippi State University football jersey in 2012.

MSU officials announced Thursday morning that the Bulldogs 24-year-old tight end was granted a sixth-year of eligibility by the NCAA after the school applied for it on his behalf.

NOTE: The Dispatch MSU Sports Blog wants to personally thank Brad Locke of the Daily Journal in Tupelo for sharing the quotes he acquired from Green as MSU officials said Thursday afternoon the tight end was out of town and unavailable.

Green, a Scooba native, redshirted during his first season at MSU in 2007 and it was believed the 2011 campaign would be his final season as a fifth-year senior. However, because he missed all but two games in 2008 with a hip injury and the entire 2010 season with a knee injury Green was granted a waiver by the NCAA to play this fall.

"I wasn't ready to give up ball. I wasn't ready to stop playing," Green said. "With that being said, when I got granted the extra year, I felt like God was telling me maybe you should think this over some."

Green's career has been plagued by consistent injuries as last year was the first season that he played every game of the season. After Green's 2010 season ended after the first two games of the slate following surgery to repair a sprained medial collateral ligament and partially torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

According to NCAA rules, a school must wait till the player's eligibility has been officially exhausted before they can apply for the waiver that was granted on Green's behalf due to a injury history.

Green, who had 11 catches for 188 yards and a touchdown last year, said Thursday he had to take time this spring to determine if he wanted to request for another season of college football and gamble on another the risk of another devastating injury before his leaves the Starkville campus.

"Before I decided to come back, I wanted to make sure my body was healthy," Green said. "I needed some time off in the spring. So for me it was just, I took a couple of months off. I wanted to see where I was headed with my life."

Green is enrolled and will continue his graduate school work at MSU this fall while he joins a highly competitive tight end depth chart that includes sophomores Malcolm Johnson, Brandon Hill and redshirt freshman Rufus Warren and incoming freshman Gus Walley.

In his four previous seasons that total only 29 total games, Green has accounted for 42 catches for 579 yards and four total touchdowns.

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